Ringworm Wars

Good luck!

It's been two months since my last update and, at last, I can say with a only a hair of hesitation that our cats are "cured"

I've opened the rooms up and they're so much happier. We haven't gotten them tested for it again, but plan on it when we take Tazo to get her spayed (hoping to do that next week!) And although she hasn't any sores or specks or ringworm symptoms in general - her ears are stark bald. Well, they were. Hair is slowly growing back - very slowly. I've put a bit of anti-fungal ointment on them, just to be sure, and only do so once every day or two. Otherwise, she seems perfectly healthy. Everything's going great

Thanks for all the support and advice; that was certainly a trying part of my life I hope not to repeat - but if it happens, at least I know better.

Great news! One thing I noticed at the end of our ordeal was that the waxiness of the antifungal creme seemed to be doing more harm than good. Leo's nose wouldn't heal fully until I stopped using it. I think the skin couldn't breathe. I dabbed a bit of betadine on it instead each day (it is supposed to be antifungal) and things healed right up.

False alarm! -__-

As of early May, we allowed our kittens into our room with us, so no more cooping them up, and after about a week Tazo's ears began to "glisten" and flake. Immediately, I applied antifungal, and began treating Domino at the same time. (My eldest cat, Autumn, is sadly no longer with us. She escaped one night last month and hasn't shown up since...) It's been now 6 weeks, and it's only gotten worse. Domino now has it (not as bad, but still) on his ears, and Tazo's ears are now caked in crusty stuff (although she now has patches of hair on her ears). I've treated them EVERY day with antifungal cream, and just last week gave them a diluted lime sulfur bath (because I only had a few ounces left, and need to make it last until the new bottle comes in. Unfortunately I can only get lime sulfur dip from Ebay or Amazon, since no place local sells it. Not even pet stores.) My husband is going to bathe them in soap soon, and in a few days I'll be giving them another diluted lime sulfur bath. 

While I'm not as emotionally up and down about it this time, I'm still very upset and disappointed about all this. We have infections on us now, and there's nothing we can do. 8 months of dealing with this. And it still seems like a long road ahead. I won't be surprised if it's this time next year and we're STILL dealing with it.

I resent my shelter very, very much. I will never adopt from them, ever. Unless they fix their policy and actually take care of their animals and INFORM people adopting, I don't trust them. Some people are  well equipped with dealing with this problem, but I'm apparently not. It should NOT take this long to get rid of it. I know it's because I'm unable to strip my home down to the point of absolutely nothing in order to kill all the spores. All I can do is spray Lysol often, wash the bedding, and try to keep them away from our clothes. Living in a small space sucks, and I can't wait to move into our house once the water is finally hooked up. However, I hate saying this, but if they still aren't better from the ringworm by that time, I'm going to have to keep them in the sunroom until they do get better. To prevent a larger infestation.

I'm just very distraught right now. Doing everything I can never seems enough. I'll go to the vet for more antifungal medicine (which barely did anything last time) if they aren't better at the end of this month.

This seems like it'll never end.

I'm so sorry.  I don't think our ordeal lasted as long as yours.  But it sure felt like it so I feel like I can sympathize.  Your not ill equipped to handle it.  Some just get by easier or are luckier than others.  My husband, for example, snuggled our ringworm kitty regularly and never got ringworm.  My kids and I got it so bad we had to go on dangerous oral meds...even though we knew what is was right away and started with home treatment (recommended by doctor over the phone) right away. 

I can understand your anger with the shelter.  I've noticed some laid back attitudes toward ringworm in animal rescue circles around here.  I think if people have never had a SERIOUS struggle with that fungus, they just don't understand.  One person told me, "A little antifungal creme and it clears right up."  Well, that may be true sometimes....but not always.

Just to put it in perspective, any spot of ringworm on a cat at our shelter is a death sentence.  All of them are euthanized, immediately.  Does that seem like a better policy?  I don't like it, but they don't want to adopt out any cats that can cause the problem you're experiencing, and they don't have the facilities to treat them long-term.

Just curious...did you try the oral treatment?
 

A better policy would be to treat all new cats/kittens with a lime sulfur dip, like many shelters have.

Yes, I've had the oral treatment for the cats, and it barely did anything. When we took them back to get tested again, the vet (a different one this time) told us we should have dipped them in lime sulfur every 5 days for a month while giving them the oral antifungal. We don't immediately have $$$ to get them retested and re-prescribed right now, when we're expecting a $600++ plumbing bill (with no avail on actually having running water - our guy just "doesn't know" what to do, apparently....) On top of it all, I'm pregnant with our first child and I desperately do not want this ordeal to last the whole pregnancy. Only 7 months to go, and I definitely don't want to have to struggle with treating the cats, us, AND an infant (which I don't know if there is even a safe effective way of doing so). It's all overwhelming, so excuse me please for sounding peeved at our shelter. :/

I love our cats and want what is best for them, so we're putting a "new" action plan in place, where my husband will bathe the cats up to 3 times a week (not using any harmful shampoo) and then give them a lime sulfur dip 1-2 times a week for a month. And each day, we'll apply antifungal cream to the afflicted areas, 1-2 times. That, and keeping as clean as we can, is all we can do for now. If they still haven't recovered in 30-45 days, we should have the money for oral medication. Just need be positive that it'll all work out, I suppose.

I'm reminded of what Dory said in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...."

Gosh, sounds like you've really had a tough time! I think the severity of the outbreak must be influenced by number of other people and animals around. I live alone with one kitten who had ringworm when I got him about 6 weeks ago. Thankfully, the oral meds have been enough and I haven't caught it despite cuddling my kitten all the time. I can't say for sure that it has been controlled as Jasper is on his last week of meds but there has been no sign of it on him for a couple of weeks.

It sounds like you've tried so hard to get rid of it. I can only begin to imagine your frustration. I live in Australia and we don't have Lysol (not that I'm aware of). But I was recommended to try a spray disinfectant called Glen 20. I bought some and noted that on the back of the can it listed a couple of strains of ringworm. I emailed the company to ask whether it killed ALL strains but never got a reply. I'm just wondering if perhaps Lysol doesn't kill all strains? I have no idea if that's the case. I researched and found a veterinary disinfectant called F10-SC. I ordered a bottle but so far haven't felt the need to use it. It is supposed to kill all strains of ringworm, at least the ones that animals get anyway. It can be used as a fogger, laundry rinse, and surface spray. It claims to be safe to use around animals and people and doesn't need to be rinsed off like bleach. I think the 250ml bottle of concentrate makes 50 litres of disinfectant for fungal spores. I paid around 30 dollars. And there are other products like ointment, hand wash, wipes etc. from the same company. I spent days searching ringworm on the net before I even came across this stuff. Now, obviously I can't personally recommend it as I haven't actually used it. But I thought I would throw it out there as another possibility for trying to control ringworm in the environment. If anyone else has had any experience with this stuff I hope they can chime in. And I suppose it's always wise to check with your vet too. There may be other similar products that I'm not aware of. Good luck!!

http://www.f10biocare.co.uk/dr.html

Please note that I ordered it through an online pet shop in Australia, and can't vouch for the website I have linked to above.

On the last major outbreak at the shelter, almost all of the employees and volunteers got infected. I treated my lesion with dilute bleach and then an antifungal, and it healed up in a week. Not everyone was as lucky. And a real favorite was euthanized before I could get her home for fostering. Broke my heart.

I just learned our 12 week kitten who I've had for 10 days has ringworm. She showed signs after she already had a run of the house and introduced to our year old cat. We have her confined to a small bathroom which seems to be really warm and we cannot cool it down. She cries for attention in this small space alot. I am thinking of letting her in the adjoining guest room which we can close off from the other cat. This room gets lots of direct sunlight so I thought that would help the infected kitty since sunlight is supposed to help kill spores. More for me to clean but my thought was once she is clear of the infection I could close off that guest bedroom from both cats for months and clean it religiously before reopening it. Any thoughts on that?

Update; I mixed the last of my Lime Sulfur dip with a 2 oz spray bottle, so I can spray the cats down rather than dip them.  The last time I dipped them, they were so rily it was difficult for me to keep them in the bucket; they're just much stronger than they were when they were younger. It's been two weeks, and Tazo's ears aren't as icky. Still infected, but better. Domino has the infection on his ears and neck now, thanks to a cat fight. Just hope that the Lime Sulfur spray is enough.

Santorini; I think that's a good idea. She'll be a lot happier. Just be careful of cloth things; they hold onto spores easy. Strip the room of furniture with cushions and bedding if you can, and if it has carpet, spray with lysol often (not too much because of fumes, just a mist.) This'll help keep the spore count down while she's healing.

Thanks for your reply! I've been using athlete's foot spray to spray the not so cleanable areas. Needless to say we still are fighting the ringworm and it spread a bit on her, so taking her to the vet tomorrow. We are jusr using a topical treatment now combined with lime sulfur dips but she just is not kicking this fungus. Hoping vet will prescribe oral meds tomorrow. Any suggestions are welcome.

Santorini said:

I just learned our 12 week kitten who I've had for 10 days has ringworm. She showed signs after she already had a run of the house and introduced to our year old cat. We have her confined to a small bathroom which seems to be really warm and we cannot cool it down. She cries for attention in this small space alot. I am thinking of letting her in the adjoining guest room which we can close off from the other cat. This room gets lots of direct sunlight so I thought that would help the infected kitty since sunlight is supposed to help kill spores. More for me to clean but my thought was once she is clear of the infection I could close off that guest bedroom from both cats for months and clean it religiously before reopening it. Any thoughts on that?

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Overall your plan sounds like a good one. Just know that you will need to clean the room she is in top to bottom every day or so to keep killing the spores. And, the fact that she's already had run of the house and exposure to the other cat means the whole house needs a good scrubbing (probably multiple times). I would probably err on the side of caution and quarantine them both. If you are hesitant to do that, take your older one to the vet and have them tested as well. They very likely have already been infected, but because of the age and earlier catch you can likely stop theirs from getting very bad. 

This thread has tons of good advice so I won't parrot that off the bat. The thing with Ringworm is that it is airborne and goes everywhere super fast. Just take a deep breathe and come up with your system to manage it. It does take time but you can beat it with a little consistency! 

Best of luck and please, ask specific follow up questions as you need to! You can get through it like so many of us have in the past! 

Belated update-

Tazo and Domino are ringworm free - with the help of the great outdoors. In the beginning of summer, we started allowing them to roam freely inside and outside (due to our living situation, they seemed a lot happier that way.) As they played around outside, I'd spray down all surfaces with a bleach solution. Also, I took lime sulfur dip, mixed it with a gallon of water, and filled a small spray bottle with the solution. It was easier to spray down their affected area and mist over their coats - took less than a minute - every few days rather than dipping them. They hated me for it, but within a month, the signs were gone, and after two months, they haven't had another break out. I believe it was the combination of the sunlight, sulfur dip spray, and the extra time I got with cleaning the area, that helped them. (Although, it also could be their age; they're now a year old, and I've read that adult cats generally have a stronger immune against it. I'm not sure, though.)

So, yippee! It's behind us now. It was a good experience though, despite my up and downs with trying to deal with it, but now I know how to handle it if we come in contact with it again.  

Thanks everyone for all the advice and help~ 

So the ringworm started for us with the chinchilla. I took him to the vet immediately, and she prescribed a cream, drops, and two doses of Revolution for kittens (spent most of my savings on these meds!). I have to give him drops and cream every 12 hours for at least 3 weeks. we have kept him in the bedroom away from our 2 cats, but I just noticed that one of the cats has a lesion on his back. from what ive read online (because the vet forgot to mention how contagious this infection is) I will start with apple cider vinegar and pray that it doesn't spread. hopefully our other cat will not contract it, although I cant see how he wont. if my vet had explained to me the seriousness of this fungus I would never have given my chinchilla a dust bath. there are probably ringworm spores everywhere in the bedroom, even though i'm vacuuming and cleaning his cage every day. I have read a lot of the threads on here about what disinfectants and medications to use, and im just hoping some of these methods will work. its been very overwhelming, especially thinking us humans or my uninfected cat may all still get infected. its hard to quarantine the animals because we're in a one bedroom apartment. we are already living with limited income, and now all of our $$ is going to killing a fungus.

Any input would be appreciated.